Slitting apparatus for hoop mills



3, 1965 TETSUJI TANlGUCHl 3,197,992

SLITTING APPARATUS FOR HOOP MILLS Filed June 11, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.2

GT O R HEY United States Patent 3,197,992 SLITTING APPARATUS FOR HOOP MILLS Tetsuji Taniguchi, Hitachi-shi, Japan, assignor to Hitachi, Ltd, Tokyo, Japan, a corporation of Japan Filed June 11, 1963, Ser. No. 287,090 2 Claims. (Cl. 72-203) This invention is concerned with hoop mills and particularly to slitting apparatus to be used therewith for shearing the material rolled into band-like strips of a predetermined width. 6

Heretofore, for slitting the material rolled on a hoop mill into band-like strips of a predetermined width, a slitting shear has been employed to work on a hoop material transferred onto the shearing line after it has once been wound into a coil at the end of the rolling line of the mill.

With such shearing line provided separately from the line of rolling, not only an excessive length of time has been taken for the material to pass through the rolling and shearing processes but also a vast floor space has been required for the equipment. In addition, transportation facilities required for such separate shearing equipment have involved a substantial increase in the entire cost of equipment.

The present invention is intended to eliminate the previous need of separately providing a shearing line and thus to drastically reduce the cost of equipment and the floor requirement for the entire rolling and shearing equipment.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide a slitting apparatus which is extremely economical needing no personnel for its operation.

According to the present invention, there is provided a slitting apparatus for a hoop mill which comprises a shear, an inside frame carrying said shear and a roller as one of the table rollers of the mill, drive means for vertically moving said inside frame, and an outside frame carrying said drive means and arranged along the rolling line of the mill for guiding the vertical movement of said inside frame, said inside frame having two positions in-,

cluding one position where said roller is held at the level of the rolling line to allow the material rolled to be carried over said roller and the other position where said shear is held at the level of the rolling line to work on the material rolled.

According also to the present invention, there is provided a slitting apparatus of the character described which comprises another roller mounted for vertical movement on the inlet side of said inside frame by bracket means thereon and cooperable with an adjacent one of the table rollers of the mill as a pinch roller for tensioning the rolled material being sheared for the purpose of facilitating the shearing operation.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which diagrammatically illustrate one embodiment of the invention and in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation, partly in section, of the slitting apparatus embodying the invention set forth in shearing position; and

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing the apparatus in feeding position.

The general arrangement and configuration of the rolling mill and the slitting apparatus with which the present invention is concerned are well known to those skilled in the art and only the principal parts of the invention have been shown diagrammatically in the drawings. Also, no detailed description of the entire equipment will be made here for simplicitys sake.

3,197,992 Patented Aug. 3, 1965 In the drawings, there is shown a rolling mill including a frame 1 and an upper and a lower roll 2 and 3 mounted on said frame by way of roll chocks not shown. A series of table rollers 4 are arranged as shown for carrying the material to be rolled. Arranged on the outlet side of the mill where the material rolled is subsequently discharged therefrom is a slitting apparatus according to the invention which includes an outside frame 5 disposed adjacent the outlet end of the rolling mill and an inside frame 6 mounted inside of said outside frame for vertical movement under the guidance thereof. A shear is mounted on the inside frame 6 which includes an upper support member 9 mounted in said inside frame for vertical sliding movement and carrying an upper cutter 7 and a lower support member 10 fixed in said inside frame 6 and carrying a lower cutter 8. Formed in the inside frame 6 is a threaded bore for receiving a threaded bolt 11 secured to the lower support member 9. Rotatably mounted on the inside frame 6 is a worm wheel 12 which is threaded over said threaded bolt 11 and held in meshing engagement with a worm 13. As the worm 13 is driven from the exterior, the worm wheel 12 meshing with the worm 13 is driven to turn the threaded bolt 11 thereby to vertically move the upper support member 9.

In the lower part of the inside frame 6 a roller 14 is rotatably mounted in the same manner as the abovedescribed shear, which includes upper and lower cutters. When the inside frame is in its upper position, the roller 14 serves as part of the roller table of the mill to allow the material rolled to be carried over the roller. Supported by the outside frame 5 at the top and bottom thereof are cylinders 16 and 17 which receive plungers 18 and 19, respectively. The hydraulic assemblies 16-18, 17-19 cooperate to vertically move the inside frame 6 between its upper or rolling position and lower shearing position, as will be described below.

For shearing operation, the inside frame 6 is moved downwardly by the hydraulic assemblies to assume its shearing position and thus the shear is brought to the level of the rolling line of the mill, as shown in FIG. 1. The rolled material A is delivered in the direction indicated by the arrow to enter the shear to be shown into band-like strips of a predetermined width, which are wound on a coiler 20. As shown, some of the table rollers 4 are raised to allow the strips to be directed to the coiler 20 for the purpose of minimizing the distance from the shear to the coiler and hence the floor requirement while enabling the strips to be wound tight on the coiler to the last end of the strips.

For rolling operation, the hydraulic assemblies are operated to move the inside frame 6 upwardly until it assumes its upper or rolling position to hold the roller 14 at the level of the rolling line to allow the material B to be carried over the roller in the direction of the arrow to enter the rolling mill or in the opposite direction. 7

Another roller 21 is mounted for vertical movement on the inlet side of the inside frame 6 by bracket means 23 extending therefrom. A compression spring 22 is arranged between the roller 21 and the bracket 23 to bias the roller downwardly. When the inside frame is in its lower position, the roller 21 carried thereon is positioned opposite to an adjacent one of the table rollers 4 to cooperate therewith as a pinch roller. It will be appreciated that during the shearing operation the material being shorn is subjected to a tension due to the provision of the pinch roller 21. If not tensioned, the strips into which the rolled material has been slitted would come into sliding contact with each other to be impaired before they are wound on the coiler 20. In addition, it would be very difiicult to wind the strips not tensioned. This ice diificulty can be avoided according to the invention by use of pinch roller 21 serving to tension the strips.

What is claimed is:

-1. In a hoop mill, a slitting apparatus comprising a shear, an inside frame carrying said shear and a roller as one of the table rollers of the hoop mill, drive means for vertically moving said inside frame, and an outside frame carrying said drive means and arranged along the rolling line of the mill for guiding the vertical movement of said inside frame, said inside frame having two positions including one position where said roller is held at the level of the rolling line to allow the material rolled to be carried over said roller and the other position where said shear is held at the level of the rolling to work on the material rolled.

2. A slitting apparatus according to claim 1 comprising another roller 21 mounted for vertical movement on the inlet side of said inside frame 6 by bracket means 23 thereon and cooperable with an adjacent one of the table rollers 4' of the mill as a pinch roller during the shearing operation.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,136,184 6/64 Wells 80-43 i FOREIGN PATENTS 1,121,904 1/64 Germany. CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN A HOOP MILL, A SLITTING APPARATUS COMPRISING A SHEAR, AN INSIDE FRAME CARRYING SAID SHEAR AND A ROLLER AS ONE OF THE TABLE ROLLERS OF THE HOOP MILL, DRIVE MEANS FOR VERTICALLY MOVING SAID INSIDE FRAME, AND AN OUTSIDE FRAME CARRYING SAID DRIVE MEANS AND ARRANGED ALONG THE ROLLING LINE OF THE MILL FOR GUIDING THE VERTICAL MOVEMENT OF SAID INSIDE FRAME, SAID INSIDE FRAME HAVING TWO POSITIONS INCLUDING ONE POSITION WHERE SAID ROLLER IS HELD AT THE LEVEL OF THE ROLLING LINE TO ALLOW THE MATERIAL ROLLED TO BE CARRIED OVER SAID ROLLER AND THE OTHER POSITION WHERE SAID SHEAR IS HELD AT THE LEVEL OF THE ROLLING TO WORK ON THE MATERIAL ROLLED. 